


Nightmares

by Ford_Ye_Fiji



Category: Over the Garden Wall (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Mentions of the Beast, Nightmares, Unknown aftermath, don't worry they'll deal, greg and Wirt need hugs, i love sibling relationships, in a few months everything will be rainbows and happiness, otgw - Freeform, poor Greg, so much hugs, theyre so adorable, wirt stop feeling guilty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-05
Updated: 2017-01-05
Packaged: 2018-09-15 01:14:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9212888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ford_Ye_Fiji/pseuds/Ford_Ye_Fiji
Summary: He yawned, "... Wanna talk about it?"There was a quick moment of hesitation before he answered quietly, "No."





	

Sinister thoughts follow me,  
when I go to sleep  
they crawl into my dreams  
And I'm trapped in a nightmare,  
unable to scream,  
tormented by evil memories.

-Christy Ann Martine

* * *

_The wind howled as a voice sang. Snow fell, the flakes landing on the red conical hat and melting nearly instantly. It was a stark contrast to the snowflakes that had piled up on the cold steel of the teapot.  
_

_Wirt couldn't breathe. He couldn't because his brother was turning into a tree of oil._

_The Beast whispered, his voice a song that told him of despair and horror and loss. The lantern glowed as his brother coughed, red leaves floating away._

_How could he have been so stupid?_

_He'd let the Beast manipulate him, he'd gotten them lost in a world full of strange woods filled with dangerous creatures, and he'd treated Greg like dirt when really his brother was the most precious thing he had._

_Now his six year old brother was slowly dying in the woods, cold and alone, because of him._

_Suddenly there was a hand on his shoulder and he turned, the Woodsman glaring down at him and holding a bright lantern. The flames shifted and something was faintly whisper screaming from inside the strange and somehow frightening light._

_The Woodsman's rough, mysterious, and somehow wise and knowing voice reverberated through the still night air, "Where's your brother, boy?"_

_Greg was right behind him, wasn't he? He was going to... He was going to try and get him out of that tree. He had after all, practically put him there himself. It was his responsibility and he had to own that for once. He had put Greg there and it was all his fault._

_He turned and there was Greg waving goodbye and the Beast's hand was on Greg's shoulder pulling, pulling, pulling his younger brother away. Wirt couldn't move and he couldn't speak- he tried but it wasn't enough._

_Suddenly it was dark and the only light was from the Beast's dark lantern and the whisper-screaming was louder and it was Greg! He was in trouble and he couldn't-!_

_Wirt was running, running, running but Greg was getting farther away and suddenly everything was quiet. Wirt finally found the lantern on its side by a fresh healthy Edelwood sapling. He knew what or rather who it was. Who it had been._

_He couldn't focus and the Beast was singing his song in deep ominous tones, his melodious voice drowning out everything but the nothingness, "When you submit to the soil of the earth..."_

Suddenly, the voice of Beast and the his horrible melody was only in his head and he was laying curled into a ball on his side. The blankets had been kicked off the bed, his hair was sweaty and mussed, and his arms had curled around himself.

A nightmare.

Slowly he rubbed his drooping eyes and raised them to the clock on his headstand. One in the morning... He had school tomorrow- _today_.

He had to do something first... Before he attempted to chase the phantom promise of sleep. The sweet allure of blissful unconsciousness that would futilely... Now was not the time for half baked poetry.

Wirt stumbled up and shuffled across the carpet. He slowly opened the door, wincing as it creaked ominously. He stepped out and wavered, his socked feet slipping on the wooden floor of the hallway. He steadied himself on the wall, wincing at his clumsy movements. No matter what he did, he was always going to be an uncoordinated individual.

He made it to the door across from his and turned the brass knob, wincing as the cheerful crayoned papers fluttered on the door as it opened. The pictures contained a frog, a boy with a teakettle on his head, and a taller individual with a pointy red hat.

Wirt winced at the picture and poked his head into the room, heart in his throat and chest constricting.

Greg was laying the bed, his eyes closed while breathing deeply and contentedly. Wirt sighed, his face softening at the sight of his brother perfectly fine and well.

Wirt allowed himself a small smile as Greg mumbled in his sleep and tuned over, hugging his frog Jason Funderburker to his chest. Greg had "forgotten" to put the amphibian in his aquarium again.

Wirt quietly closed the door, rapidly beating heart slowly relaxing at the sight of his small and cheerful brother safe and sound in his bed.

Greg was alive.

All was well.

He returned to his room.

Surprisingly, Wirt was able to slip easily back into sleep's comforting clutches. However, it wasn't for long. About an hour later, at five after two in the morning, someone else tiptoed across the wooden hallway that divided Wirt and Greg's rooms.

The small child put his ear against the plain white door, listening for a noise. It was Greg. He looked right and then left as if he were crossing the street, before he too opened the door to his brother's bedroom.

The door closed softly.

Wirt was usually a heavy sleeper. He'd still notice, though, if someone sat down on the bed next to him. Especially if he hadn't been asleep for long.

Wirt's eyes blinked open slowly and he frowned as he saw Greg laying beside him. Greg gave Wirt a small sleepy blink. Wirt still wasn't fully awake when he pulled his blankets over his youngest brother.

Greg's small fingers clutched the blanket gratefully.

Wirt blinked slowly and then his brow furrowed before he came to the only plausible conclusion why Greg was laying quietly in his bed. After all he would know, "Nightmare?"

Greg nodded mutely, eyes wide.

He asked sleepily, eyes closing in a long slow blink, "You wanna talk about it?"

Greg only stared. In his minds eye, Wirt wasn't sleeping peacefully in the bed. No, he was surrounded by winding branches of Edelwood. Branches that dripped with black oil and red leaves, branches that were first sign that Wirt's soul was lost forever in the clutches of the Beast. He was turning into an Edelwood tree, buried in the snow, with his eyes closed and his breathing slowing.

He finally replied to Wirt's question, his voice firm yet quiet, "No."

There was a long silence before Wirt replied with an equally quiet answer, "Okay." He wrapped an arm around Greg and pulled his little brother closer, arms winding in a vague pantomime of branches. Except, this wasn't Edelwood, this was Wirt and he was alive, warm, and well.

Greg snuggled closer, head against his brother's chest where he could hear his heart beating strongly.

Wirt was alive.

The Beast was dead.

All was well.

The two boys fell asleep, comforted by each other, and neither of them woke up until their Mother woke them with a soft smile when they had to leave for school.

The brothers had each other and in the end, that was all that they really needed.

* * *

 These scars do not fade,  
they do not heal with time,   
but I look for the clearing  
in the dark sky.  
When the smoke clears  
and these tears finally dry  
I will see what love looks like  
for the first time.

-Christy Ann Martine

 

**Author's Note:**

> Reviews feed my creepy lantern. 
> 
> It's much nicer (and more efficient) than using souls, because no one is going to blow it out because you're killing innocent people. 
> 
> So review. 
> 
> Because my lantern needs oil. 
> 
> This feels like an advertisement.


End file.
